Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Tea Party Group Targets Trans Voters

http://transgenderequality.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/tea-party-group-targets-trans-voters/ (http://transgenderequality.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/tea-party-group-targets-trans-voters/)

A right-wing, Tea Party organization called "True the Vote" is training their volunteer poll watchers to target transgender voters. True the Vote's training manual features a transphobic image that claims transgender people are fraudulent voters and should be denied the right to vote.

NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling said, "It is disgraceful that True the Vote would try to thug anyone into not voting. True the Vote's true agenda is a shameful attempt to scare trans people away from participating in our democracy."

Until this point, the concerted effort by right-wing, tea party groups to restrict voting rights with new Voter ID laws only inadvertently affected transgender voters. Only days away from Election Day, the discovery of True the Vote's training manual marks a shift by right-wing groups to explicitly target transgender people and deny them a right to vote.

Shocking. Truly shocking. I mean who would expect the right wing to do something like this. We have been told over and over that the right wing are not bigots by a few posters here. I am shocked to find out this was not as they said :O

The Tea Party is "far right". I'd like to think that we can tell the difference between a fringe group and "the mainstream"...

That being said, I welcome their efforts to intimidate. I have the Law--and a .45 a large bouquet of flowers--on my side.

Quote from: Beth Andrea on November 04, 2012, 04:09:09 PM
The Tea Party is "far right". I'd like to think that we can tell the difference between a fringe group and "the mainstream"...

That being said, I welcome their efforts to intimidate. I have the Law--and a .45--on my side.

Better to be suspicious  than to be complacent I think. Feel free to be complacent though. That .45 will probably land you in jail if you tried to use it anyway, given that they likely have the law on their side as well.

Oh, these whippersnappers don't know anything sbout tea parties. A real tea party is all fun and games until someone loses a colony.

There is a great deal of hate in this world, the tea party finally allowed many right wingers the ability to channel thier hate in way, that seems acceptable to them and organized.... Of course there are militant PETA and Greenpeace people who are much the same on the left, they seem much more harmless to the political process as they seem to focus on specific actions (I.e. whale hunting, wearing fur, etc). God forbid if they organize together under an umbrella organization like the tea party we would be even more divided than we are now.

The transgender community needs to do what it can to reach out and make sure we all understand our rights when it comes to voting in our state, territory or district.

They can bite me.  Already voted.  By mail.

I was an actual poll worker in my former name and persona, but for the next election I am going to apply to be a poll worker again.  Since its a county paid ($50.00) job, my gender status is protected by our laws here.  Be all sorts of fun to run up against a Tpartier with my county precinct worker ID in hand.  I am registered on the basis of DL with female name but M gender information, and I know our polling place roster does not list the M on it, but if it did, well that cannot be challenged and I have a civil rights complaint protection, plain idiocy does not have that. 

Really? Shooting someone over a silly piece of paper called a ballot? Can we ratchet this down a bit? Hugs, Devlyn

I was unable to find any open hostility on the part of the TP (as implied by the original link (http://transgenderequality.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/tea-party-group-targets-trans-voters/))

The Tea Party (http://www.teapartypatriots.org/) website

The "True the Vote (http://www.truethevote.org/)" website

The original site had an image which suggests TS fraud may occur:

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftransgenderequality.files.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F11%2Ftruethevote.jpg%3Fw%3D450%26amp%3Bh%3D411&hash=ec5c1f362b90e87f9c21eb0a5f2045a207319965)

But on the TtV site, I could not find that image. Is it there, and I just missed it? Or is it a made-up image, designed to instill fear and hatred against the TP?

Quote from: Devlyn Marie on November 04, 2012, 07:20:12 PM
Really? Shooting someone over a silly piece of paper called a ballot? Can we ratchet this down a bit? Hugs, Devlyn

No, "intimidation" and "violence" is not usually done with a ballot, Devlyn. The kinds of intimidation and violence that the far-right is accused of involve beatings, baseball bats, knife slashings, etc.

Talk to any black person who could've voted in 1963, and ask about "intimidation."

At any rate, yes I will "rachet my tone" down a notch or two.

:)

*hugs* (don't worry, the safety's on LOL)

Most Tea Party members are Christians and they dislike big government.

But I ask, how can you dislike big government when you swear loyalty to the biggest government of them all?

As you see in my picture, this is how I went to vote in Florida.  The pole workers look at my driver's licence which says male.   They look at my senior bus pass.   The elderly lady looked at me and smiles.   Then she goes through the process of processing me to get my ballot.  I had no problems.   I just went the first day I could vote.   There was a line out the front door of the library where we early vote.   I usually get no dirty looks, even if people call me sir.    I am just consistent in how I dress and present myself.   

Like I have found with lots of other times I crossed the you don't cross lines of my life, crossing that line I have found that most of my fears have been imaginary.   

Of course I live a pretty safe life, going out in public with the other females in my family and my young son.    Of course I live in an area of northern Florida along the Atlantic Ocean which gets lots of tourists.   And being almost 66 this month, I have found that the older I have gotten the more invisible I get.

Sadly, this isn't surprising, but it does confirm my cynicism about our 'democracy'. Then again, everything from corporate lobbyists to the counterproductive, polarizing effect of a bipartisan system makes me cynical, so meh.

Quote from: Beth Andrea on November 04, 2012, 07:24:28 PM
I was unable to find any open hostility on the part of the TP

The original site had an image which suggests TS fraud may occur:

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftransgenderequality.files.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F11%2Ftruethevote.jpg%3Fw%3D450%26amp%3Bh%3D411&hash=ec5c1f362b90e87f9c21eb0a5f2045a207319965)

But on the TtV site, I could not find that image. Is it there, and I just missed it? Or is it a made-up image, designed to instill fear and hatred against the TP?

It appears it came from a manual they distribute in print to poll workers, which isn't on their public site or you need their log-in to access.

Are you really shocked these people would be anti-LBGT? Or would assume that NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling made this up and that the tea party right wing extremists wouldn't do something like this?

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/religion/christianity/catholicism/tea-party-looks-overturn-lgbt-rights-omaha-nebraska (http://www.opposingviews.com/i/religion/christianity/catholicism/tea-party-looks-overturn-lgbt-rights-omaha-nebraska)

Support these people and they will crush your civil rights..

Quote from: Devlyn Marie on November 04, 2012, 07:20:12 PM
Really? Shooting someone over a silly piece of paper called a ballot? Can we ratchet this down a bit? Hugs, Devlyn

I want one of those joker bang guns. I know I know off topic :S

It would be interesting to see what would happen if they come across a large masculine cis-woman with facial hair and try anything.  You really need compulsory voting over there.

They are not gentlemen. A gentleman would never doubt a lady's word.

Karen.

I'm not so sure they are targeting people who are trans just because of that image. It could just be an easy representation for them to show someone in disguise to cast an illegal ballot in another person's name.  Looking at the image, you have an id that is obviously for a woman and then you have a burly looking guy in a dress to show that you need to match people to their id's properly where it is required.

I'm just concerned our community looks for issues where there really are none and it could cause us to lose credibility over time.

It's sad. I sort of loosely followed the Tea Party, reading their articles and such, when they started out and seemed primarily a libertarian-ish group. Even then they weren't libertarian enough for my tastes so I never was interested in getting involved. When the right-wingers first started showing up and trying to steer them into attacking social issues, they were having conflicts and the original tea-partiers were telling them to GTFO. It was no use, of course. They kept showing up in greater numbers. It's an effective strategy of the primary two parties to overwhelm and usurp smaller political movements. And now it truly is a right-wing organization and has no hope of changing the status quo in any substantial way.

Quote from: Jaime on November 05, 2012, 08:08:43 AM
I'm not so sure they are targeting people who are trans just because of that image. It could just be an easy representation for them to show someone in disguise to cast an illegal ballot in another person's name.  Looking at the image, you have an id that is obviously for a woman and then you have a burly looking guy in a dress to show that you need to match people to their id's properly where it is required.

I'm just concerned our community looks for issues where there really are none and it could cause us to lose credibility over time.

If that's the case, how stupid do they think the people they are training are?

Quote from: MaidofOrleans on November 05, 2012, 10:52:52 AM
If that's the case, how stupid do they think the people they are training are?

They are training republicans...     :P


*hides from Jamie*

True The Vote Targets Transgender Voters
By: Autumn Sandeen Sunday November 4, 2012 5:55 pm    

http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2012/11/04/true-the-vote-targets-transgender-voters/ (http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2012/11/04/true-the-vote-targets-transgender-voters/)

The transgender population is a small population, and to my knowledge until this election trans voters haven't been systematically targeted for voter suppression. Well, this year trans people are being targeted for voter suppression by True The Vote. A graphic from True The Vote's Virginia training materials shows what the organization thinks about trans citizens.

The National Center For Transgender Equality's (NCTE's) Advancing Transgender Equality blog article Tea Party Group Targets Trans Voters explains it this way:

A right-wing, Tea Party organization called "True the Vote" is training their volunteer poll watchers to target transgender voters. True the Vote's training manual features a transphobic image that claims transgender people are fraudulent voters and should be denied the right to vote.

From True the Vote site (I see nothing about Transgendered):

About True The Vote

Unfortunately, Americans have lost faith in the integrity of our nation's election results and fraud and law-breaking has become all too common in our electoral system. We hope to change that perception. True the Vote is a citizen-led effort to restore truth, faith, and integrity to our elections.

Mission Statement

True the Vote is an initiative developed by citizens for citizens, meant to inspire and equip volunteers for involvement at every stage of our electoral process. We promote ideas that actively protect the rights of legitimate voters, regardless of their political party affiliation.

We are working to restore integrity to the American system of electing its leaders. With True the Vote, we have, "deconstructed the entire process, focusing on educating voters, examining the registry, recruiting, training and mobilizing election workers and poll watchers, training how to collect data all along the way, then use the data to shape government action and legislative agendas to support desperately needed election code reform."

Our government was built upon the belief that election results represent the true will of the people and our election processes were always intended to be supported by citizen volunteers. We are helping stop corruption where it can start – at the polls.

Our initiatives include:
•Mobilizing and training volunteers who are willing to work as election monitors
•Aggressively pursuing fraud reports to ensure prosecution when appropriate
•Providing a support system for our volunteers that includes live and online training, quick reference guides, a call bank to phone in problem reports, information on videotaping at polling places, and security as necessary
•Creating documentaries and instructional videos for use in recruiting and training
•Raising awareness of the problem through strategic outreach efforts including advertising, social networking, media relations, and relational marketing
•Voter registration programs and efforts to validate existing registration lists, including the use of pattern recognition software to detect problem areas

Who is True The Vote?

Based in Houston, Texas and headed by Catherine Engelbrecht (President), True The Vote is staffed by volunteers all across the country. Essentially, True The Vote is you and me. Every day Americans interested in the integrity of the elections in the home district.

I see both "big" parties as simply another way of "divide and conquer" (with the conqueror(s) being major international Wall Street types...and no, I can't name who "they" are)

Republicans -- favor business, small and large, but mostly large (primary source of money: gov't and international investors). They try to paint themselves as the party of Mom and Pop stores, and maybe they are, but they are also the party of mega corporations.)

Democrats -- favor "the people" (mainly the low-income people), but they also cozy up to businesses by favoring illegal immigration ( = lower wages all around). They have no problem with taking, or tying up, private property, so long as it's not their property (snail darter, spotted owl), and favor making people dependent on gov't (hence they are pro-gun restrictions = criminals knowing most victims are unarmed = more crime = more jails, more prosecutors, more lawyers, etc)

Libertarians = Some people get fed up with the D's and R's, and they wanted to bail, so a third party was created, allegedly via "spontaneous" means, to contain and render harmless the disgruntled D's and R's, so as to not tip the apple cart.

Tea Party = When the "militia" types ran out of steam, they were still itching to make a dent in the US political scene, so they formed the Tea Party. That's why 99% of their people are right- to far-right politically. But, as dalebert said, "(the Tea Party) has no hope of changing the status quo in any substantial way."

It is just another way of containing people who are disgruntled with the current US political situation.

Make them think they're doing something really cool to change things, and people will stand quietly and wave their pretty little signs...

But, I may be off topic...let's see...the topic was about a group within the Tea Party that appears to be training people to "spot" voter fraud. I wonder if they'll go into nursing homes, and observe that many people with Alzheimers (who can't even hold a pencil, let alone know what a "pencil" is) are registered to vote, and actually do vote, with the nurses' help?

Ah well. Such is life in the Empire.

Quote from: Jaime on November 05, 2012, 08:08:43 AM
I'm not so sure they are targeting people who are trans just because of that image. It could just be an easy representation for them to show someone in disguise to cast an illegal ballot in another person's name.  Looking at the image, you have an id that is obviously for a woman and then you have a burly looking guy in a dress to show that you need to match people to their id's properly where it is required.

I'm just concerned our community looks for issues where there really are none and it could cause us to lose credibility over time.

I saw the illustration this morning, and this reflects my initial impression, Jaime.

  I'm Joelene,

  I'm transgender,

  I'm a Republican and I've already voted.
 
  I am not Tea Party, my brother is.  He may not like my transitioning, but he complains more about the liberal Communists in government!  My brother and I were in his car on the way to the airport a month ago to pick up his daughter and as he was complaining away, he missed the airport off ramp!  We had to thread our way around downtown San Diego to get back onto the highway and back onto the airport off ramp.

  Joelene

Excellent timing. I just saw this on my roommate's Facebook page.

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FACXap.jpg&hash=464474a81f64ff53f4a9f9f78d70f36f3f9a20e5)

Quote from: Joelene9 on November 05, 2012, 02:15:59 PM
  I'm Joelene,

  I'm transgender,

  I'm a Republican and I've already voted.
 
  I am not Tea Party, my brother is.  He may not like my transitioning, but he complains more about the liberal Communists in government!  My brother and I were in his car on the way to the airport a month ago to pick up his daughter and as he was complaining away, he missed the airport off ramp!  We had to thread our way around downtown San Diego to get back onto the highway and back onto the airport off ramp.

  Joelene

Your brother doesn't know what a Communist is apparently.

I can tell you that the American government is not remotely Communist.

Quote from: MaidofOrleans on November 06, 2012, 12:16:04 AM
Your brother doesn't know what a Communist is apparently.

I can tell you that the American government is not remotely Communist.

But he does know how to listen to Shawn Hanity and Rush Limbauh. :P

Whatever your political opinions or feelings are, they should not overpower you to the point you take your mind off the highway and where you are driving. I am a political pragmatist!! 

Voter intimidation is a crime. I'm pretty sure that counts as promoting illegal activity among poll watchers.

Quote from: MaidofOrleans on November 06, 2012, 12:16:04 AM
Your brother doesn't know what a Communist is apparently.

I can tell you that the American government is not remotely Communist.

Thanks, but try to explain it to him!  We both served in the Navy.  Me during Vietnam, him 10 years afterwards.  I came across the Soviets in the North Sea and in the Mediterranean.  We got close enough to each other to see the whites of each others eyes, my brother was in Guam listening to their signals, if any, behind a console.  I met the Red Army types after the fall at my workplace and they said that the only Communists on base were the hated political officers!  My brother has not met any Cold War Russians.  I had ex-Red Army friends. 

  He needs to look in the Lenin closet!

  Joelene

True the Vote blocked in key Ohio county
By Steve Benen
-
Tue Nov 6, 2012 12:54 PM EST

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/06/14972052-true-the-vote-blocked-in-key-ohio-county?lite (http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/06/14972052-true-the-vote-blocked-in-key-ohio-county?lite)

We've been keeping an eye on the efforts of True the Vote, a Tea Party project accused of organizing voter-intimidation schemes. One True the Vote leader has told volunteers their goal is to give voters a feeling "like driving and seeing the police following you."

As MSNBC's Zach Roth reported today, True the Vote was blocked today from operating in Ohio's second largest county, after the outfit was found by election officials "to have submitted irregular signatures in a bid to gain access to the polls."

---------

Tea Party poll-watchers shut out in key Ohio county
Zachary Roth
12:35 pm on 11/06/2012

http://tv.msnbc.com/2012/11/06/tea-party-poll-watching-group-denied-access-to-polls-in-key-ohio-county/ (http://tv.msnbc.com/2012/11/06/tea-party-poll-watching-group-denied-access-to-polls-in-key-ohio-county/)

True the Vote, a controversial Tea Party-backed poll-watching group, will not be operating in pivotal Ohio's second largest county on Election Day, after it was found by election officials to have submitted irregular signatures in a bid to gain access to the polls.

"True the Vote doesn't have any observers in Franklin County today," Zachary Manifold, a member of the county's Board of Elections told MSNBC.com Tuesday morning.

LOL! They commit fraud so that they can "stop voter fraud"? :)

Looking at the picture of what looks like a big burly man dressed like a woman,  it seems rather obvious that it is aimed at transgenders.   What heterosexual male is going to go to vote dressed like a woman with a driver's licence that says he is a male?????   

Being 66 years old and being a child of the 1950's listening to Garner Ted Armstrong and  along with Methodist, Baptist, and Congregational Ministers as a teenager and young adult,  living through the ecumenical movement within the religious faiths,  and following the conservative movement since the 1950's,   I am aware of what the message is, that these groups are sending and have seen the same message change clothing over the years.   I admit I have always been a liberal.

Throughout my life until the last ten years,  I have seen a consistent disdain and hatred for transgenders, which is why it has taken me so long to be an open and outed transgender woman in my personal life and my on line life.

True the vote is not needed and groups like this should not be allowed in voting system.   What voters need are outside groups that stand up for them when the people who are running the county voting system are turning voters away and violating their civil rights and denying them the vote. 

Many of the True to Vote volunteers come into communities that they are not even apart of and try and judge people they don't even know. 

I have voted as a transgendered women with a male id on my driver's licence in my community in this election and elections before.   No one has said anything.

True the Vote has obviously been apart of the Conservative Republicans campaign to keep minorities from voting and to make it harder for them to vote.   As seen on November 6 this was a huge fail, because it made these groups angry and they came out to vote in large numbers.

I am interested in hearing what other experiences transgendered people had when they went out to vote.

We transgendered people are going to be one of the last groups in the United States to be recognized as full citizens that no one has the right to discriminate against.    It will probably come soon after all discrimination is ended against all females by males.    Then transgender men will be accepted as men and us transgender women will be accepted as women.

To me it looks like it is telling people to watch out for burly guys in dresses using IDs that clearly aren't burly guys. Opinions will vary, though. Hugs, Devlyn

Quote from: michelle on November 12, 2012, 10:48:41 AM
Looking at the picture of what looks like a big burly man dressed like a woman,  it seems rather obvious that it is aimed at transgenders.   What heterosexual male is going to go to vote dressed like a woman with a driver's licence that says he is a male?????   
*snipped*

The id they show just before the burly guy is obviously that of a female considering the pic and name and obvious difference in appearance.    Its an extreme example of impersonating someone to vote fraudulently. I just don't think they would bother with singling out such a small minority by directly targeting transgender people at the polling places.

Sounds like fascism to me.  It effectively classes the trans community as subhuman.   Wasn't this why the second world war was fought?

Quote from: Pippa on November 12, 2012, 11:34:15 AM
Sounds like fascism to me.  It effectively classes the trans community as subhuman.   Wasn't this why the second world war was fought?

No, the genocide thing was kind of a side thing to the war. The war was fought because a bunch of fascist ultranationalists had dreams of building empires with bombs and bullets.